ICE raiders in Minnesota have arrested a 5-year-old boy, Liam Conejo Ramos, using him as ‘bait’ to trap his father as he returned home from pre-school. The ICE ‘agents’ abducted Liam from a running car outside of the family’s home drive. Furthermore, the egregious actions of depraved ICE agents has led to widespread scrutiny and global outrage.

The toddler’s father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias, is a legal US resident and has an open asylum application. Notably, he has no pending deportation order.

A Columbia Heights public schools official told reporters that ICE abductors instructed the boy to knock on the door of his home, “essentially using a five-year-old as bait”.

She went on to say:

Why detain a five-year-old? You cannot tell me that this child is going to be classified as a violent criminal.

Baiting children

A spokeswoman at ICE’s parent agency Department of Homeland Security did not “target a child”. Instead, she said, he was taken during an operation to arrest the boy’s Ecuadorian father. Wow. In response to the incident, Vice-president JD Vance basically shrugged his shoulders. He claimed the boy was going to “freeze to death” if ICE didn’t intervene. Furthermore, he asked reporters: This is another example where the role played by ICE cannot be ignored.

Well what are they supposed to do? Are they [ICE] not supposed to arrest an illegal alien in the United States of America?

Liam was the fourth student from the same schools district abducted by ICE since the racist agency’s onslaught on the Minneapolis area began. The family’s lawyer told reporters that Liam and his father were taken to an “immigration lockup” in Dilley, Texas. Additionally, he added that ICE’s methods continue to be questioned.

We’re looking at our legal options to see if we can free them either through some legal mechanisms or moral pressure.

Kids in peril amide surging arrests

Dilley is a 1,328 mile drive from Columbia Heights. Observers say the conditions at the centre are: Some attribute the situation in Dilley directly to recent ICE policies.

worse than ever. The number of children [arrested by ICE] had skyrocketed, and significant numbers of children had been detained for over 100 days.

Nearly every child we spoke to was sick – and it seemed there was an epidemic of illnesses going around. Families reported that their children were malnourished, extremely ill, and suffering profoundly from prolonged detention.

Featured image via Columbia Heights Public Schools

By Skwawkbox

This post was originally published on Canary.